Digital Emotions
by RainyGamer
Summary: Lapidot fanfic based before and after "Jailbreak". In this au, Peridot is a male gem, as is Jasper. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Peridot's floating fingers drifted over the controls, with fluid, speedy motions. He had been doing it for so long, it was a sort of art. Peridot liked his technology more than social interaction. His technology wouldn't contradict him (mostly), it wouldn't judge him, and it wouldn't undermine his intelligence, which he often had to do deal with. Working with a dense headed mineral like Jasper, Peridot was often ignored, undermined, under appreciated. And the worst part was that he had to listen to Jasper, because he was in charge of the mission, as ordered by Yellow Diamond. Peridot switched his screen to the surveillance system. There was only one, solitary gem, curled up in a cell. Peridot had secretly taken to watching her when he had spare time. Honestly, he knew somewhere in his hard heart, he felt sorry for her. But Peridot on the outside had become cold. That's what working with technology, and being attached to technology all day can do to you. You become emotionless, incapable of handling feelings like love, kindness, basically all nice feelings. Frustration was increasingly more common, and other similar "feelings". Peridot thought of these emotions now as a weakness, a pointless waste of precious energy that could be used in a much more productive way. But in a sense, a tiny part of his heart had melted because of a pitiful, defective gem. Peridot realised she was due for a gem diagnostic. It was often necessary, when keeping captives for long periods of time, to run these test to make sure the "subject" is not damaged. Especially assets like this Lazuli. She had useful information, so she needed to be kept in good condition. Peridot reluctantly removed himself from his chair at the control panel, and made his way along the corridors. He instinctively walked the right way, having made this walk so many times previously. He soon saw the gem, curled up in the back of her cell, her head buried in her knees. Peridot sighed, and removed the force field for a moment. He knew she wouldn't attack him or try to escape now. She knew better. He replaced the force field with his hovering screen from his fingers. Without even being asked, the blue gem silently turned her back to face Peridot, so that he could examine her gem. He pointed his fingers at it, scanning it for any signs of damage or defect. His screen read clear, and his fingers returned to normal.

"When will I be free?"

Peridot was thoroughly startled. He had never expected her to speak to him. Her voice was strong and defiant, but he could here the sadness and fear behind it. He decided best to go with the routine answer. Correspondence with subjects was not encouraged, unless for a set purpose.

"When you have identified to rebel gems once we reach earth,you will be taken back to home world, and the Diamonds will see if you are fit to be released."

The blue gem turned her head, and Peridot saw her beautiful blue face, her dark hair curving past her ear. He suddenly realised he was gawking, and immediately returned to his permenant frown. He saw the emotions swirling in her eyes like whirlpools in restless waters. They bored into his soul, and he gulped. Her stare was cold, and full of hatred.

" If you had any care for anyone but yourself, maybe you would realise that locking up your own kind and interrogating them is wrong. I am a gem too. I have emotions. I have thoughts. I am not some tool you can keep locked and can shamelessly use for information."

The blue gem suddenly stood up, and stared hard into Peridot's face, only a few inches away from it. Peridot felt a bead of sweat on his forehead

"I, I j.."

Peridot saw her defiance break, and he was sure he saw tears in her eyes. But she turned away before he could confirm his suspicious, and sat down with her back facing him. He realised this was a sign to leave, and he quickly did so. As soon as he was out of sight, he leaned against the wall, his hands on his thighs, bent over. What just happened? How did a defective waste of carbon manage to break him? He wiped the sweat from his brow, and returned to the control panel. No correspondence, so Peridot had nothing to do. All he had left was to fill his log. He manoeuvred his screen, and pressed his record. This was his private log, not the diamond log. He could say whatever he wanted here. He mumbled the date, then began.

"The defective lazuli that is being kept captive on our ship has been... Affecting my concentration. She has a strange air and her defiance was broken. But sometimes she has moments of bravery, and I feel... These "emotions" that are a waste of time and energy!"

Peridot concluded his log, and sat in his chair. His fingers drifted into a screen, and he located the surveillance system. There she was, all alone, dejected, held against her will, clearly traumatised by past events. Why did he care? He had done this so many times before with thousands of gems, why is it suddenly affecting him now? But Peridot couldn't help the emotions that were springing to life inside him. Instead, he would fight them.


	2. Chapter 2

div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot disconnected from the control panel, and left the room. He heard Jasper shouting somewhere nearby, mumbling in aggravation. Peridot approached the lazuli's holding cell, and saw Jasper standing in front of it, cackling madly like a deranged bear. He heard Peridot's metallic footsteps approaching./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""Peridot, open this cell! I want to teach this gem a lesson!"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot rolled his eyes./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""We must not engage the subject Jasper, she still of use to us, and the diamonds will have you punished if you disobey them"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""They won't mind A high ranking gem teaching a defective little shard like this a lesson."/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""Jasper, I'm not opening it, and that's final"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Jasper turned on Peridot suddenly./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""I'm the leader of this mission, you do as I say!"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot felt the anger rising within him, and it overrided his fear/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""No, I do what the diamonds say, and they say not to engage the subject!"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot exasperated shout caused the blue gem to turn around. Peridot saw fear in her deep eyes. Fear of what could happen to her. And that single look changed everything. Peridot could almost feel his heart melting. Scared, alone, helpless at the hand of this brute. Peridot suddenly had the burning desire to protect this gem, to stand up to Jasper. Jasper growled, and stormed off muttering angrily. Peridot couldn't stop himself, he wal-ked right up to the cell./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""Are you... okay?"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Lapis gave a simple nod, then seemed to change her mind. She didn't turn her head, but a quiet voice was heard./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""Thank you"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot bit his lip awkwardly, nodded, and quickly marched away./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;""Gaaaaaaaargh?!"/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Peridot let the strangled sound escape his lips. He kept becoming so... Flustered around her! And flustered was not what Peridot liked to be. Organised, calculated and disinterested would be a better fit. He grumbled before returning to the control room. The door closing behind him, he took a deep breath and sat down at the panel. He began checking the course of the ship, like he had done thousands of times before. Things hardly ever changed, but every so often you would get an unexpected meteorite shower or other astronomical variation. However, the scanners where so advanced that there was a on in 1,00,00,00,00.09 chance of it missing something. But Peridot needed to get his mind off her, so he checked anyway. Nothing/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He had to fix this, before it was too late./div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"-/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"Sorry for the late post! Also sorry it's quite a short chapter, but I will be updating soon! Thanks for reading!/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;"^...^/div  
div style="font-family: MarkerFelt-Thin; font-size: 19px;" /div 


End file.
